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Saturday, November 29, 2014

Today I begin my next figure - the 70mm Wolverine from the Eaglemoss Classical Marvel Figurine Collection. This is a publication that began life several years ago, and Wolverine was issue 2 if memory serves me well. Each issue is dedicated to one Marvel character in particular and comes with a collectible boxed 70mm scale fully painted figurine. They cost anywhere from 7 to 20 sterling depending on the size - the larger ones are usually special issues. The link is HERE for anyone interested.

I have bought several of these figurines, and 2 of those I like enough to repaint, the Wolverine being a case in point. The painting of these figurines is basic and not as well done as in the photos on their site, but this is expected. The figure itself is posed very nicely, but on closer inspection one can tell that the production of this figure is somewhat sub par.

The first thing I did was strip the figure to bare metal and clean it up a bit - what I found was a bit disappointing. First of all the back musculature is a bit confusing, and there are quite a few manufacturing defects that I will have to fix before I start painting this model up.

Some of the most pronounced defects were gashes and holes in the head!, besides holes and ill-fitting parts like the glove and arm fittings.

After cleaning the model up and just looking at it for an hour or two; trying to decide what to do with it, I decided to put it on a base with its back to a wall - the pose of the figure lends itself to such a composition. The only problem was I had to build a wall for it, which is actually not a problem at wall, but rather a lot of fun.

Well that is all for today, see you all next month and until then farewell and good health as always.

Monday, November 24, 2014

I have finished this book, The Damnation of Pythos (TDOP), and I want to make it a point from the start that this is not a review per se. I rarely write reviews about novels I read, the last was Prospero Burns, and that was not the most positive of reviews. After reading this book though, I felt the need to comment about the scope of this book.

From the onset, let me say that this book is enjoyable for an average sci-fi novel. It is not the greatest BL novel out there, but it does stand on its own merits.

The problem is that it was written for the Horus Heresy (HH) series, but it does not add anything to the story, nor does it move the story forward in any way - big or small. Granted you are reading about the destroyed legions, but these survivors do not engage in the grander scheme of the HH story setting either.

The book is a completely stand alone story that leads absolutely nowhere. If anything it just continues to grind these poor devastated legions into the ground! I know this is the Grimdark universe; and bleak and hopelessness are staple themes, but please give these boys a break!

In fact, with a few changes, it could work as a horror/thriller novel set in the 40K universe - and to be honest that is what it should have been written for. I buy the paper back versions of the HH simply because I started buying the collection and decided that I liked the setting enough to continue to collect them. I am thankful I did not buy into the hardbound volumes - that would have been a waste of money.

I have also read some of the reviews on other sites, and everyone seems to agree with the point I have made. So this beckons the question - Why did the editors of BL not pick up on it too? Don't they see that this book is no more than pointless filler in the grand scheme of the HH series?

Well that is it. I have said my piece and call it a day. I just hope the next installment of the HH is nothing like TDOP, and that the story in the next book takes the series into some interesting undisclosed ground.

There are more lots available, just click on the link and then click on see other items or just go ahead and click HERE.

Well that is all for today. I apologize in adavance for these self-promotion posts. After I sell them off, I promise you will not see these type of posts again. Until then farewell and good health from Nightrunner.

Monday, November 17, 2014

I have finally finished the this model as well as completed another New Year's resolution. Unfortunately, the pictures did not come out too well, but I did not have enough time to fiddle around with my camera.

Having said that, the photos do show basic work, but some of the highlights are lost. All in all, they are acceptable for a hobby blog. As for the figure, I really enjoyed spending the time just painting it. Even though the time was quite short due to work obligations, but the exercise was to finish the model and not make a masterpiece. So I am content!

I have to admit, that I really missed painting a single showcase figure, after all the models I have painted up recently for armies. Dioramas are showcase pieces too, but if the diorama has a lot of figures I don't spend as much time on each figure as I would do with a single figure show piece. So coming back to single miniatures was a breath of fresh air! I plan to do more in the future and alternate projects between single minis, dioramas and armies to diversify the content of my work and make thing more interesting for myself.

To be honest, I am looking forward to working on my next figure which is the 70mm Wolverine from Eaglemoss Publications. The figure is of really poor quality, but since I started it three years ago, I want to finish it. Also I don't expect to do miracles with this figure - so the pressure is off and I can just enjoy spending the time at my workbench and paint it while listening to an audio-book.

So with this chapter now over, all I have to say is farewell and good health to one and all!

Friday, November 7, 2014

Unfortunately, I am still in the grip of massive overtime at work - with one colleague sick and another currently caught on leave. So I am struggling to keep a lid on things; scrounging a little time for everything, including eating and sleeping!

Well I did have half a day off, and I spent several hours of it painting up the Conan model I started/restarted last week. I finished off the basic coats and have now started to add highlights and shadows to it.

The helmet I have not worked on yet, but when I have finished with the first round of highlights and shadows, and test fit the model to the base; I usually then go around a second time deepening or brightening up the shadows and highlights respectively according to the need.

As for the base, I have finished up the stakes and painted up the bronze shield and standard. I have to admit I enjoyed doing these more than the model! The next step with the base is the flora and ground work which I will add when the Conan model is finally ready.

Well, once again that's all for now. I will try and finish the model by next week. after that I will start the Wolverine model. I took a look at it and I have to say it is one badly cast piece. I think it is going to take a lot of work to get it up to standard, but that is for another post.